PwC survey says most CEOs expect global economy to shrink in 2023, perception less pessimistic in Romania

The vast majority (73%) of CEOs expect the global economy to shrink in 2023, reflecting the most pessimistic outlook in the last 12 years, according to the 26th PwC CEO Survey. In Romania, however, the perception is less pessimistic, with 62% of respondents expecting a local slowdown.

Overall, the perception had reversed from 2021 and 2022, when 76% and 77% of respondents, respectively, believed that the economy would improve its growth rate.

“The last few years have put the whole of society to the test, with a pandemic, war, energy crisis, record inflation and rising interest rates, so the pessimism expressed in the current survey is not surprising. Yet Romanian CEOs are more confident about the national economy than the global economy, with 62% expecting a local slowdown and 75% anticipating a global decline,” said Dinu Bumbăcea, Country Managing Partner, PwC Romania.

“Although the perception of the macroeconomic situation has worsened, leaders in our country are more optimistic about the companies they run, with more than half anticipating business growth in the next year. This means that they have taken a potential economic downturn into account when building their strategies,” he added.

According to the same survey, leaders in France, Germany and the UK are less optimistic about economic growth in their own countries than they are about global growth. Conversely, those in the US, Brazil, India and China are more optimistic about growth in their countries than they are about global growth.

Meanwhile, 40% of executives believe that their organisations will no longer be economically viable in 10 years if current conditions continue, a trend particularly noted by respondents from the telecom (46%), manufacturing (43%), healthcare (42%), and technology (41%) sectors. In Romania, however, 27% of Romanian CEOs feel this way about the companies they run, although they too foresee multiple challenges for the profitability of their industries over the next 10 years, PwC said.

Meanwhile, the impact of inflation (40%) and macroeconomic volatility (31%) replaced cyber and health risks as the CEOs’ biggest worries, both in the short term and over the next five years. For their part, Romanian executives perceive inflation as the main risk to business development (48%), followed by geopolitical conflict (42%) and macroeconomic volatility (38%).

CEO Survey 2023 explores the opinions of over 4,400 CEOs from around the world, including Romania. The complete CEO Survey 2023 report for Romania will be published in March.

(Photo source:Weerapat Wattanapichayakul